Poor, poor Anneliese

Yesterday my baby, Anneliese, turned 1. The big 1, and I didn't post. Hopefully this isn't an indication of what being the fourth has in store for her. I tend to think of the 1st birthday as more for the parents than the kid. My stepmother was going to call, then said, "it's not like she'll remember I was a day late". First birthdays and Christmases are pretty boring around here. My oldest daughter, Michaela, will be 6 next week, and I had a niece born 3 days ago, so my stepmom is a pretty busy lady right now. We're going to have a shared party for my daughters, with me doing the cakes. My other kids had really nice first birthday cakes (I do cake decorating), but with most of my stuff still in boxes, and the fact that no one is going to eat 2 cakes, I'm trying to find a way to scale down. I'm thinking cupcakes this year.
I wanted to wait to post until I got a picture of her, but I forgot to 1: tell Perry to help me with it, and 2: even if I did #1, I took the camera with me to take pictures of my new niece. Such is my life.
Kristin, the cute new niece



























Noone got to escape the birthday hats, not even my 93-year-old grandmother (whose preferred drink of the evening was strawberry milk, as you can see).

I'm now a WAHM

I've been a SAHM since I became pregnant with Caleb, my first. I worked as a veterinary technician and in a small town, working in a small vet clinic, I would've been pretty useless (no x-rays, cat kennel duty, etc.) and I didn't think anyone would want to hire me for the short-term, so I used my pregnancy to unpack from our recent move. I'm not the worst housekeeper, but I'm definately not the best. The house is usually ready for drop in visitors, thanks to Flylady, but some of the little things weren't getting done. In January, I made out my resolution list and a daily checklist of things I wanted to do each day to make those goals. It worked for about a month, then I noticed that the small things were slipping through the cracks again. I was never like this when I was working. The details were my pride and joy. My hair bows matched my scrubs, I labeled everything at the clinic, I colour-coded our surgery packs. Where was this person now? I needed her now more than ever!! Today is the first day back on the job. I'm not as work now, play later as I once was. I think that was my downfall earlier. I'm also paying myself. When Perry saw the payment plan I had on my to do list, he was upset, as he felt that I should know that I can buy whatever I want, no explanation or accountability to him. I explained that I knew that, but I need a little inspiration. I'm paying myself $1/day when I finish my daily chores. Losing weight is tied into that, too. At my weekly weigh-in, each pound lost or gained is worth a dollar, be it added or subtracted to my total (I felt it was necessary to tie in some negative reinforcement). I let myself have a soda a day, and any extra soda is worth $.50. If I go to Wendy's and buy my son's meal, that comes out of my balance. I know $1/day is pretty low for all I do in the day, but I figure that most of what I make will be spent out on my Saturday grocery shopping lunch, or a stop by Wendy's in the middle of a hectic day out. If I make more, I'll go out more, which is not good for either the waistline or the bank account. I'm going to throw in little incentive extras along the way, such as making a weight loss goal, or doing extra work in a different zone. I hope this system will let me stay on top of the kids' daily destruction, as well as regain control of the house, little by little.

Sick babies

There is nothing more pathetic than a sick baby. With both of my girls, you can see it in their eyes that they are sick. The baby has had a fever for the past few days and her little cheeks get so pink when the Tylenol wears off. She acts fine when she's dosed up, but you can definately tell when it's almost time to give her more. She's all cuddly and still while you're awake with her, but in bed she tosses and turns nonstop. I fell asleep with her inbetween my husband and I and woke up with my legs corraling her in- it looks like she fell asleep after climbing over one leg and never got to the next one. On the exciting side, she took her first real steps tonight!!

Happy St. Perry's Day!

Today is my wonderful husband's birthday. He has a twin brother named Patrick (the name was already picked out and they were several weeks overdue, so it wasn't his parents trying to be all cutesy). In our house, we celebrate St. Perry's Day. And a saint my husband is, to put up with me. He is the kindest, most loving, gentle, fair, happy guy I could've found. He is a wonderful father and makes up for all of my shortcomings as a mother. He is hard working and doesn't complain. He loves me just the way I am. He is truly my best friend. I love you, Perry.

It doesn't get any better than this

Nothing is better than a warm baby sleeping on your chest. The slow, rhythmic breathing. The way the blond tufts of hair on her head waft gently whenever you breathe out. The way she lifts up her head, groggily opens her eyes...and head butts you in the mouth. Ouch.

I'm a slacker

This is our latest family picture. The really sad thing is that our soon-to-be-born baby is turning one in two weeks. I just got Joshua in for his 3 year-old pictures and he turned 3 in November. Life got pretty crazy with traveling to a wedding, kids taking turns getting sick, and the holidays. I really need to be more on the ball for birthday pictures this year, especially in the fall when I have to get Christmas pictures, too.

And just so she doesn't feel left out, this is a picture of the baby, Anneliese, at a few months old. I have older pictures on the digital camera, but my mind keeps telling me uploading is harder than it really is (I think just finding the cables is the hardest part, lol).

Bring on the gypsies

I have a 3 year-old boy for sale. In addition to the previous 3 bottles of lotion, he's added another bottle of lotion, half a bottle of carpet shampoo, several small bottles of bubble bath, a brand-new bottle of conditioner (my house smells really good now), a large bottle of white acrylic paint (we have dark green carpet), and a small bottle of green acrylic paint. I've gone through a whole roll of paper towels just on the paint alone. *sigh* My mantra is going to be "just adding ammo for the teen years, just adding ammo for the teen years".

Careful what you wish for

After complaining that my favourite blogs haven't been updated, I've been swamped at home so much that I haven't had a lot of time to even check the state of those blogs. My husband, Perry, tore a tendon in his calf a week ago and has been couch or bed-bound, while his foot elevates. Our oldest son, Caleb, is possibly ADHD and we're filling out diagnostic forms for that. Our youngest son, Joshua, has decided to have a personal vendetta against body lotion. In the past 2 weeks, he's emptied 3 brand new bottles on my carpet. On the second bottle, he decided that salt was needed (whole shaker full). I'm trying to finish the stenciling in the girls' room, but it's going slow. I think I should have it pretty much finished by the end of the week, though, if Joshua cooperates, lol.
Needless to say, it's been pretty stressful around here. I need to figure out a good substitution for eating and soda, though. I gained 2 pounds last week on soda and fast food alone. I'm tired, but I'm afraid to rest, since the latest lotion incidence happened when I took an hour nap.